Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs and Blu-rays for October 25

New Releases:

“Captain America: The First Avenger” (Paramount) is, as the title hints, something of a prologue to the upcoming superhero extravaganza “The Avenger,” but it’s also an old-fashioned piece of two-fisted comic-book heroism with a patina of nostalgia and World War II patriotism. And the film owes all due credit to Chris Evans, who brings a convincing mix of pluck, modesty and duty to the role, embodying an icon without turning it into parody. While not the best superhero movie in the recent cycle of big-screen comic books, it’s far from the worst and at times endearing in its sense of honor, decency and responsibility. Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D. Videodrone’s review is here.

“Winnie the Pooh” (Disney) is the new animated feature starring the silly old bear of A.A. Milne’s children’s stories, and Disney’s first hand-drawn animated feature in some time.

From China comes “City of Life and Death” (Kino Lorber), an epic recreation of the Rape of Nanking in 1937, plus the costume action thriller “Shaolin” (Well Go) with Andy Lau, both on DVD and Blu-ray. “Fire of Conscience” (Vivendi) is a contemporary Hong Kong crime thriller.

“Barney Miller: The Complete Series” (Shout! Factory) collects all eight seasons of the iconic seventies sitcom — 168 episodes altogether — plus complete half-season of the spin-off “Fish” in a hefty 25-disc box set. Set entirely in the precinct house, it’s still considered the most realistic portrayal of cops on television by real-life law officers. The set is also packed with supplements: commentary tracks, cast interviews and the original pilot. Videodrone’s review is here.

“Are we not men?” That’s the question at the heart of “Island of Lost Souls” (Criterion), the first adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel starring Charles Laughton as a heartless scientist who plays God in his jungle laboratory. Though not as famous as the original “Frankenstein” and “Dracula,” this early-thirties horror is one of the greats and makes its long-awaited debut on DVD and Blu-ray. Just in time for Halloween. Videodrone’s review is here.

“Laurel and Hardy: The Essential Collection” (Vivendi) is an impressive ten-disc set featuring newly-remastered editions of ten features and dozens of shorts from their Hal Roach period, from their first sound short to “A Chump at Oxford” and “Saps at Sea” in 1940. A whole disc of supplements plus alternate versions of some shorts and feature films. “Nine Nation Animation” (New Yorker) showcases new animated shorts from around the world.

“Dazed and Confused” (Criterion), the “American Graffiti” for the other end of the baby boom generation, gets its Criterion Blu-ray release mere months after its Universal Blu-ray release. Needless to say, the supplements are impressive. Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” (Lionsgate) debuts on Blu with new supplements and “Tom and Jerry: Golden Collection, Volume One” (Warner) presents 37 classic cartoons remastered for DVD and Blu-ray.

Author: seanax

I write the weekly newspaper column Stream On Demand and the companion website (www.streamondemandathome.com). I’m a contributing writer for Turner Classic Movies Online, Keyframe, Independent Lens, and Cinephiled, and the editor of Parallax View (www.parallax-view.org).. I’ve written for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Seattle Weekly, GreenCine.com, Senses of Cinema, Asian Cult Cinema, and Psychotronic Video, among other publications, and I am a contributing editor to Parallax View.

I currently live and work in Seattle, Washington, with my two cats, Hammet and Chandler.